Up Front
Edited by Ira Sager
Talk Show
"I think for some retired military to opine as aggressively as some have done is not helpful.... To criticize somethingtheyhaveneverseenis prettyaudacious,isn't it?" -- General Richard B. Myers, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
HEALTH WATCH
An Unwelcome Western Export
 There is a tragic side to globalization: As the standard of living rises in underdeveloped nations, so does the rate of cancer. In a new study, the World Health Organization estimates that global cancer rates could jump by 50%, to 15 million new cases in 2020, from 10 million in 2000.
The probability of getting cancer is currently more than twice as high in industrialized nations as it is in developing ones. But that's already changing, the report says. Cancer is emerging as a major public health problem in the Third World for the first time. The health organization says the sharp rise is due to an aging population combined with an increase in smoking and unhealthy Western-style diets.
In China, for example, 60% of adult men smoke, and the percent of deaths due to tobacco use -- mostly from cancer -- is expected to rise from 9.2% of the population in 1990 to 16% in 2020. Researchers also note that high-fat Western diets, which are tied to one-third of cancer cases, are spreading throughout the world.
By Catherine Arnst
NAME GAME
Hitting the Delete on Compaq
As Hewlett-Packard (HPQ
) nears the one-year anniversary of its controversial $19 billion acquisition of Compaq Computer, sentimentality isn't exactly running deep. Over the next few years, HP plans to phase out the Compaq name as a solo brand on its products, including home and business computers. The name could survive, though, as a "sub-brand." De-emphasizing the Compaq name comes as a surprise considering the cachet it has held with corporate buyers for 21 years.
But HP has been struggling to sharpen its image in contrast to marketing juggernauts Dell Computer (DELL
) and IBM (IBM
). In November, HP launched a $400 million advertising campaign -- more than four times the size of past efforts. But HP officials say that tech buyers are befuddled by the two brands. "If you looked at a Sunday supplement, you'd never know a Compaq PC came from the same company," says HP Chief Marketing Officer Michael Winkler.
HP says it initially kept the Compaq name on home PCs to protect the amount of shelf space it gets from retailers. If the brand disappears, so could some of that space, providing an opening for rivals such as Sony (SNE
).
By Ben Elgin
GLOBAL ECONOMY
The Wall Street of the Mideast?
Across the Persian Gulf, bombs drop and oil fields burn. But in the United Arab Emirates city state of Dubai, contractors are breaking ground on what they hope will become the Wall Street of the Middle East.
The Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), which will be completed over the next few years, ultimately will house a new stock exchange and over a dozen buildings designed to attract the top financial institutions. The UAE government hopes the DIFC will attract some of the $1 trillion in regional trade that is currently conducted in markets in Europe and in Asia. The DIFC has been recruiting regulators and will license financial-services firms by this summer, says Phillip Thorpe, former managing director of London's Financial Services Authority, who is now chief executive of the DIFC's regulatory council.
Eventually, a new Dubai stock market, with stringent reporting standards, plans to list companies based in the Middle East and elsewhere. Officials hope a strong market will be a source of economic stability in the region. "Getting a change in a regime is one thing," says Thorpe. "If people have access to markets and the benefits of investments and savings, change can be much more permanent."
By Heather Timmons
THE LIST
CLASS NOTES
Gay-Friendly B-Schools
When it comes to being friendly, Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management takes top honors in BusinessWeek's biennial MBA survey. So it's no surprise that Kellogg earned an A on a survey of another sort: It has been named one of the nation's most gay-friendly business schools. That's a big change over its grade for 1995 (B-), when Jason Lorber of research firm Aplomb Consulting released his initial report.
Back then, only Harvard and Stanford earned top marks. They managed to keep them. B-schools at other universities earned an A along with Northwestern this time around, too: Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, and MIT. Schools are graded on antidiscrimination policies, the presence of a gay student organization, domestic-partner benefits policies, and other things.
Among the laggards: Cornell and Carnegie Mellon, which got D grades. Who flunked? The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School, for having no domestic partner benefits, no gay student group, and no openly gay professors. The school says it's committed to having a gay-friendly environment. Students did start a gay-lesbian club, but too late for the survey.
By Jennifer Merritt
MEDIA MANIA
To Give You a General Idea...
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are angry that criticism of the war plan has become "great sport" among retired military leaders. Indeed, war has become a Full Employment Act for them. NBC, for example, has 10 former high-ranking officers on its payroll. The generals and admirals are making anywhere from $5,000 per month to $500 per day, say media analysts. Here's our assessment of those assessing the war:
General Wesley Clark, CNN. Best TV presence. Explains the war without using jargon. Most knowledgeable about the current war plan.
General Barry McCaffrey, NBC. Most combative. He's least aligned with the Pentagon and has criticized planners for sending in too few troops.
General Richard Hawley, ABC. Most candid. When he was asked why the air strikes were proceeding so cautiously, he replied: "I don't know any more than anybody else."
Major Mike Lyons, CBS. Soldiers'-eye view. This Gulf War vet has been there, done that.
Major General Robert Scales, Fox. Flashback. Vietnam references make us think he has another war on his mind.
General Norman Schwarzkopf, NBC. Most star power. This former Desert Storm commander has at his fingertips real first-hand knowledge of the conditions in Iraq.
By Tom Lowry and Jennifer Merritt
HOME TRUTHS
A Great Place to Bring Up Kids
Want better children? Buy a house. That's the gist of a new Ohio State University study that says homeownership helps boost school achievement and reduce behavioral problems.
The real estate industry has long trumpeted the benefits of ownership, and the study appears to back up that claim. Compared with kids living in rented premises, those in owner-occupied houses have 9% higher math scores, 7% higher reading scores, and 1% to 3% fewer behavioral problems. Every additional year kids live in such a house, math and reading scores rise 1.3%, while behavior woes drop by 0.7%.
The main benefit is improved environment -- such things as quality of lighting, absence of safety hazards, family meals together, etc. "Homeowners had, on average, a better emotional environment for their children," says Donald Haurin, professor of economics at Ohio State and co-author of the study, which surveyed 1,000 households over four years.
Researchers said they used statistical modeling to take into account the generally higher levels of education and income among homeowners, as well as ethnicity and other factors. Even then, they said, the results held true.
By Stephanie Anderson Forest
THE BIG PICTURE
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Copyright 2003, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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